The Second Boat Flipping Party - But First a Keel Bunk

Tonight was the night.  I'd successfully bribed a few friends and family members to re-flip the boat, promising drinks and food of choice.  This had been put off twice before and a week in total because I simply wasn't ready.  I still wasn't ready, actually, as the trailer I got, though seemingly wonderful, does not have a keel bunk and doesn't have a kit to make one.  That meant a lot of reverse engineering, visits to the Marine Store, and discussions with sales people, which I so love the most.

 

This is also a good time to point out that had I kept the original cradle, I wouldn't have needed a trailer to continue working on the boat.  I forget what happened to the old one.  I might've been so happy to get the boat flipped I trashed the cradle in the process.  Other builders have successfully just rolled it over onto tires, and more enterprising ones have built rollover crates.  I figured I'd go the trailer route because I'd need one, anyway, and well, I have no idea where the original cradle is.

In summary, I bought a Karavan KKB-1800.  It's got all the right specs:  long enough, wide enough, with a swing tongue (insert giggle here) to reduce the 19 feet or so to 17 feet overall as the tongue gets tucked away.  That's a big selling point for those of us with small garages.  It runs about 450lbs so with a fully loaded PocketShip should be about a ton for the car to pull which is very manageable.  Other builders have gone with EZ Loaders, Kings, and custom made trailers.  I tried to get a price on one from West Coast Trailers but they just ignored my desperate need to give them money.  This one, all in, was about $1,000 less than the Trailex custom trailer pitched by CLC and was ready in a day instead of five weeks.  I didn't think the side bunks were high enough to actually reach the hull once the boat sits on the keel bunk but I was hopeful.

I'd looked for months for a used one I could modify and even drove out to visit some but none of the used ones were even close to showtime.  Rusted tires and axles, broken tongues and winches.  And for prices that didn't make a lot of sense.  It's a seller's market and I just couldn't justify spending $500 on something I'd have to drop another $1k to make usable and even then barely so.  I'd also learned a lesson the last time I tried to buy a cheap trailer.  That one was such a clunker I wound just donating it to the guy who was storing it for me in return for 3 months' storage or until he could sell it, losing about $50 overall.  So, to paraphrase another boatbuilder:  new boat, new trailer.

The biggest thing missing was the keel trunk.  I got an early start and picked up the supplies I needed.  Now, other builders have built keel bunks but they just write, "Hey, I built a keel bunk!" and leave it at that.  Not helpful, fellow builder.  An economy of words, yes, but why not just post, "Hey, I built a Pocketship!" when you're done and forgo the steps in between?  Because that's what you've done.

So, here are the materials I used:  Two Tiedown 5" roller brackets with U-bolts and nylon lock nuts for each.  The 5" bracket perfectly houses a 2x4x8 stick of treated lumber for the base and a 1x4x8 stick for the sides.  PocketShip's keel runs 103" from point to point.  This length does not include the transom overhang nor the bow, of course, but it's useful information as that means a few inches off the front and back yields a length of about 96" or 8 feet.  Better to buy a 10 foot length, though, to give some protection against knots or whatever else might show up on the edges.  My keel bunk is 8 feet long, starting at the same starting point as the hull bunks and ending somewhere north of that.

 

Using lag screws and framing brackets, I screwed the lumber together every couple feet and drilled a 3/8" hole through the 2x4 and 1x4's to pass a 7 inch, 1/4" hex screw with a locking nut on the other side.  This is the "axle" so to speak that runs through the holes in the trailer bracket.  Engineering specs on well-made bolts puts the working load of a 1/4" bolt at 4,600 lbs by itself, not including the bracket, keel bunk, and locking nut.  So I feel OK with this given it's 4x the weight of the boat and can accept some jolts without breaking.  I did want to put something more robust here but there wasn't much room in the bracket assembly.

I added a small 3/4" block at the nut end to take up some of the length (the entire assembly is about 5.5" across) and also spread the torque.  Finally, I also wanted to add a roller at the very back but the trailer for some reason has some wired lighting I couldn't remove and didn't want to mess with in case they were part of a circuit for the rest of the lights.

 

I covered the whole thing in marine carpet and stapled it down.  I got the last staples in as the first person showed up with a bag of White Castle.  Now that's a good friend!  An important bit is that none of the fasteners should be stainless steel as pretreated lumber will corrode stainless.  Galvanized fasteners are the way to go.  I wish I had a photo to share but I was working so quickly I forgot take a picture.

 

I still had to clear the garage so began pulling things out and moving them out of the way.  I'd been working on this off and on for about a week so there wasn't much stuff, but just enough to take a little bit of time.  And of course everything had to go back in that evening else the neighbors might call the trash cops on me.  I also hadn't moved the boat onto dollies as I wanted before people started showing up.  I tried but I was using a tire right by the companionway that I couldn't move without risking a Jenga finishing move.  That, too, waited for people to show.

  

Once they did I laid out the plan.  The boat was going to be placed onto dollies and wheeled out backwards.  It would then spin in the driveway to face forward, and then be unceremoniously dumped onto a bed of hostas.  We would regroup the dollies so that they'd line up and then we'd place the boat on the dollies right side up.  People would hold this position as I got the trailer lined up with the keel.  We would then put the boat on the trailer and someone would winch it (hence why I needed the bow eye installed as it was critical to the plan).  I assigned one person as emergency timber.  Her job was to throw down some timber in case the boat started making its way to the street.  I cringed when she emerged from the garage with my bowsprit.  I quickly handed her something else to use.

 

During the short break, I had a lot of questions about the build which I of course love to answer (really -- I could talk about PocketShip all day, and sometimes I do, says my wife).  Some people were there for the first flip seven years ago but some were there for the first time.

 

  

I got to look in the cabin for the first time since the first flip.  I was glad to see the floorboards and wiring were still in place, but did notice that I forgot to replace the flotation from the bow compartment when I was installing the bow eye.  Bits of purple foam were everywhere in side the cabin.

 

 

We then got it set on the keel bunk and winched up, but the bunks were about 6 inches or so short.  I thought this might happen so we stuffed tires on each side between the bunk and the hull to settle the boat for now.  That meant I would have to order some bunk extensions (which I found for about $12 each, times 4.  These are 16" long vs. the 8" that came with the trailer) and also need to shim up the hull if I wanted to work on the boat while waiting for the extensions to arrive.

 

Once the boat was on the trailer, I drew the short straw and backed it into the garage very slowly, praying I didn't damage the boat, garage, trailer, car, egos, people or any combination of those things.  I had about 6 inches from side to side and as it turns about about 4 inches from the top of the garage door.  Note to self:  I'll need some removable gallows and tabernacle.

 

After I got the wheels in the garage, I disconnected the trailer from the hitch and just moved the trailer around until I got into a position I liked.  The wheels on the trailer are really smooth and sensitive, which is great for moving.

And there she sits waiting for the next chapter in her life.  A friend timed us: 56 minutes from the time we gathered in the garage to first lift the boat to when we COVID high-fived after a job well done.  Drinks of choice were distributed to the crew and we ended the night several hours later by a bonfire in the backyard.  It was a good day.

A Flippin' Boat Party

One of the great milestones in the building of PocketShip is the flip. This is when the topsides and the cockpit are essentially finished so that the lower half of the boat, including the hull and keel, can be accessed by flipping the boat on its head.  Many other blogs have detailed the actual event, but not many have discussed the process to actually get to that point.  I've made other progress since and before (finished the rub rails, bought a trailer, cut the mast) but figured the flip was monumental enough to deserve its own space here.

My friends are a bit flaky, and those who aren't, are always busy. Those who are both flaky and busy are some of the more interesting people I know, and indeed some of my best friends, but man is it hard to get a few flaky, busy people together on a single Sunday afternoon, including myself. 

After multiple aborted dates, the crew finally got together to help with the flip.  And what a crowd it was.  They were computer engineers, technical writers, law students, marketers, railroad welders, and good friends, one and all.  They showed in spite of the fact that 7 out of 8 of us spent yesterday evening celebrating our buddy's wedding reception.

One showed up with massive furniture straps.  Others showed up with pulled pork, chicken wings, and booze.  All showed up with a good attitude.  And I have to reserve a special call out to the groom whose reception the night before ended at 3am.  He then woke up at 7 to help clear the reception room, tossed a few cookies over the course of the day, and showed up just as the boat got back in the garage to much applause.  I had to wait about 14 days for this evening, but what an evening it was.  Missing were Chris & Sean, they of the other Minnesota PocketShips.  Chris actually stopped by last Saturday but it was just the two of us and that just wouldn't do.  Sean was traveling and couldn't make it, either.  Hopefully they can make it to the reflip!

Testing the furniture straps.  These were affectionately renamed the strap ons.

There isn't a lot to add to the literature already out there on the flip.  It took a lot longer to clear and secure the garage than I expected.  Nearly two years of accumulated crap were gathered up and tossed.  I also almost forgot to remove the lift outs from the sole.  That would've been bad.  One of the downsides of the now upside down boat is that I can't store the power tools in the cockpit anymore.  I'll need to find an actual place for them.

Calculating the sizes. The garage hasn't looked like this in almost two years.

G and M help fit the bow.  Four others guide from behind.

A big help were the furniture dollies.  Since my garage was deemed too small to do a flip in place, we lifted the boat and settled it onto the dollies.  The whole thing got wheeled out along the concrete, then lifted onto the tarp on the lawn.  We then rolled it over the tarp, taking care to align the tires just so.  I broke apart the boat cradle as needed and will probably just stick with the tires from here on out. 

Guiding it forward over the pallet cardboard.

Wheeled and carried over to a tarp on the grass.

 

Discussing the engineering.  The lines are feathered fiberglass pieces, the weaves not quite filled.

Nearly on its head at this point, settled on tires.  This also served as a test for the garage fitting.

The only part most folks were worried about was the top part of the cabin, the two corners of the aft cabin wall and the cabin decking.  We put the tires behind these, not on them, and that worked well.  The team felt confident enough to carry the boat upside down and backwards and that confidence was rewarded with an efficient replacement.  Some members had to grip the boat by the rub rails.  I prayed they'd hold, but knew that if the snapped, I'd just make them anew.  I left the power screws in there, visible as the gold screw heads.  They are the 1/4" x 2 1/2" screws with T-30 tops.  It was the only way I could get enough leverage to make that final bend, despite heating the wood.

The team agrees the tires will be fine.

Hauling it back into the garage.  My wife, who took these photos, was needed to put the tires in place.

The crew settles in for the requisite beer shot. I'm sitting on the furniture straps.

I was pleased to see that the wreckage of the hull was not as severe as I expected, though still quite a mess.  I joined the hull panels quite awhile ago; the same joints would be much better now.   Epoxy drips from the keelson and other areas poke out here and there.  The transom area is in good shape.  This won't be too bad!   It will take some work and quite a bit of epoxy to address these issues but they're imminently fixable.  And the boat looked terrific out on the lawn, amazingly so.  I'd never seen my boat out of the garage before, in full view.  It was so nice to be able to walk around the living, breathing, 3-dimensional object and take a few steps back and admire the lines once more. I answered a lot of questions about the boat and one of the fellas said he would look into the kit.  I'll take my CLC commission in epoxy, please.

We ended the evening with good beer, some baseball, the Packers, and plans for next time.  I am deeply thankful to the crew, those who were able to join and also those who were here in spirit.

Oh my.. there's a lot of work yet to do.